Who makes the best passive volume control?

This is an old thread, but having tried many of the passives
mentioned, resistor, tvcs, and avcs, and since product have
evolved, I thought it worth mentioning and perhaps stirring
more discussion from other passive lovers, the very best
volume control I have had in my system is the Lightspeed
Attenuator with one contacts points, light depend resistor
(LDRs), and LEDs for controlling the amount of light. Not only
bettered the Placette, S&B TVC, and the BENT AVC in my system,
but any "preamp" I have had in my system including
some of the finest 5-7k tube line stages. It only has one I/O
and no remote, which might be a deal breaker for some, but to
my ears it is the best volume attenuation device on the market
- for $450 or so.

Mitch, are you saying the Luminous is the best passive volume control, or just one to try? I did have two "pot/resistor" types from Music Reference and Goldpoint, as well as the Placette RVC - all of which sound very good, especially for the price, though the Placette is not cheap, but I did not like them better than the TVCs and AVCs I used, and at a higher price point. Neverthesless, the Lightspeed Attenuator was superior to the all, to my ears and my system. I don't know of any passive fans that has tried one that has not come to the same conclusion, it is the best passive volume control in passive friendly systems. If you are using the Luminous because you love passives and they work for you, do give the Lightspeed a try, there is nothing quite like it.

Marebg, those are one passive approach I have not tried, but
it sure does help to eliminate an IC, for reasons Ralph
alludes to. I would have a bit of an issue with the
ergonomics of the Endlers, but I suspect they sound very,
very good.

That being said, there are several aficionados of passives
that have tried the gauntlet, including Endler, that once
trying the Lightspeed have concluded it is the best sounding
passive of any topology. I do think that Endler-type
Lightspeed would sound the best, but it would be a bit more
complicated to design and that is not the designers way -
though I am sure there would be a market for it - get rid of
the IC, the final frontier:)

We could do that, but it seems his stuff is just a pot-in-a-
box with a Noble attenuator. If you go that route, I would
look at the Music Reference PiB which uses one of the most
expensive attenuators ever made by Noble, the one used in the
ARC SP6. However, we are trying to identify the best volume
control, so some system context and comparative info would be
useful. I believe that most passives, in the right system,
including Richard Lee, will sound very good compared to most,
not all, active linestages, but if you are looking for the
best, I don't think you can come to any conclusions till you
have heard the Lightspeed Attenuator, for my money, it is the
one to beat - including any resistor, TVC or AVC on the
market.

Anthony, is the difference between the Endler and EVS based on the resistors used, or something else going on? Would love to hear an at the input version the LSA, but it does not seem in the cards, at least not commercially.